On our return from a trip to the pharmacy on Flatbush Avenue M. and I are walking side-by-side up on the nearly-empty sidewalk when, out of nowhere a man going in the opposite direction veers into our path. I’m carrying my shopping bag over my left arm, and I react just in time to avoid the man’s body – but not his shopping back, which collides with mine, causing him to lose his grip. The plastic bag falls with the sound of breaking glass. ‘Oh shit,’ the man says. He’s an older man wearing a face mask like us. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I say, as the man bends down to inspect the damage, pulling one, then another, broken liquor bottle out of the bag. ‘Oh shit,’ he says again. I repeat my apology and he waives me off, ‘I appreciate that, I know we ran into each other, it wasn’t all your fault. But, damn – that’s two bottles broken, $60 worth of liquor!’ I realize that, regardless of who was actually at fault in the collision, my apology has the effect of cementing my culpability. I pull out my wallet. ‘Here’s $20,’ I say, ‘it’s all I’ve got.’ The man looks at me, shakes his head as if to suggest that this is inadequate, but takes the twenty anyway. ‘Man, I appreciate that, but see, now I’ve gotta go back and replace both those bottles…’ I repeat that what I’ve given him is what all I have (which is true), and for several minutes we go back and forth in this absurd negotiation, arriving at the same stalemate. ‘Look,’ I say finally, raising my voice, ‘I’m really sorry about all this but I’m not going to give you any more money. That was my last $20.’ At this juncture, M., who’s said nothing so far, pulls out their wallet: ‘Here’s two tens,’ they say. ‘Will that do?’ The man takes the money. ‘Thank you, that’s really nice of you.’ He turns to me: ‘See?’ he says, implying that I should take a lesson from my partner in old fashioned politeness. I shrug, begrudgingly wish him a nice day, and M. and I walk off together. Later that day we read about this fairly common street con: empty bottles of liquor are filled with water, and then, through a contrived ‘accident’, are broken, and the mark is asked to pay for the damage.